Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is an important method of testing an individual’s corticomotor pathway. Researchers Gray et al. (2018) tested how reliable TMS excitability measures were between the three most popular research paradigms.
Researchers compared reliability between stimulating the spinal, cortical, and conditioned cortical responses when acquiring data from the soleus muscle. Study participants were observed in four different sessions, with cortical and spinal measurement taken before and after a treadmill session.
Researchers used an electrical stimulator (STMISOLA) to cause an H-reflex in participants. The electrical stimulation was regimented in small intervals with increasing intensity through utilizing the customizable script function in AcqKnowledge Software.
To better understand actitation of the soleus muscle, researchers recorded it in still and mobile conditions. The BioNomadix wearable, wireless EMG device was used to record baseline and comparable ambulatory walking data of participants on the treadmill.
Researchers concluded two of the typical research paradigms for measuring TMS were reliable. They also used their findings to create an accurate index of reliability between the three different TMS excitability measures. Their hope is this assessment will improve the methodological validity of TMS measurement through improving between session reliability.
